Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo has directed the presiding judges in the cases involving the jailed legislators Muhammad Ssegirinya and Allan Ssewanyana to begin the trial or dismiss it if the prosecution fails to produce evidence.
Owiny-Dollo made the revelation while speaking at the opening of the new law year at the Judiciary headquarters in Kampala. The chief justice said they plan to ensure that these MPs are expeditiously tried to determine their fate.
“I will go to make these statements to ensure that this trial takes place with either the guilt or innocence of the accused persons. This very quarter the trail of these members of Parliament will begin. These accused persons have now been committed to the High Court. It is now up to the court to ensure that they are tried expeditiously,” he said.
Owiny-Dollo warned the state against making unnecessary excuses, adding that the judiciary will not entertain such because the state has got the capacity to bring its witnesses.
“I will ask the trial Judge not to entertain any nonsense during the trial. If the State is not ready, we shall dismiss the case. One of the rights the trial judge has is to dismiss the case,” he said, sounding the same warning to advocates of the high court representing the defendants.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja who represented President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at the opening ceremony of the new law year congratulated the Judiciary for successfully holding the recently concluded annual judges conference.
“I commend you for the efforts in fighting case backlog, law reforms and initiatives. I have taken note of your concerns and I am now one of your advocates in Cabinet,” she said.
The two legislators Ssewanyana and Ssegirinya have been on remand for over a year now on terrorism charges as well as counts of murder in relation to killings in the greater Masaka sub-region.
The two MPs whose hearing of a bail application failed to kick off in January 2023 are expected to appear before the court on February 13 and 14, 2023 for hearing of the said application.
The hearing of the application failed because the prosecution led by Richard Birivumbuka informed the court that they were not ready to proceed and asked for another date.
The embattled MPs were arrested on September 7, 2021 alongside seven others in connection with the machete killings in Lwengo and Masaka districts.
They were later granted bail on 21 September, but the two MPs were re-arrested from the outskirts of Kigo prisons, and fresh murder charges were preferred against them.